What makes up happy workplaces?

Abstract

Jobs play an integral part of adult life. A large chunk of life is spent by people in their workplaces. Unless a workplace offers satisfaction and happiness to the employee, they are most likely to suffer from burnout, frustration and dissatisfaction and are then likely to quit their jobs. This causes loss of talent for the organizations. To use its workforce to its full potential, organisations must provide them with a conducive work environment. Hence, modern day workplaces should be of nature where workers feel like returning daily and feel happy at while they are at work. Hence, in the discipline of organizational behavior, workplace happiness and happy workplaces theme are highly relevant for organizations today. Considering the dynamic and demanding nature of work today, it becomes imperative to have organisations that can nurture talent and retain its good employees. Mental and emotional wellbeing of the workforce must be supported by the organisations and hence they should focus on employee happiness in the long run. This paper explores the dimensions of a happy workplace as reviewed from the literature. The dimensions identified are then further classified into three categories, namely, organization related, work related and employee related. The paper further discusses the benefits of a happy workplace and concludes with directions for future research.